If I go outside my apartment, I see Cyrillic: With a little bit of concentration, it starts to make sense, and I’m transported to another worldview, another frequency.
Today I asked my taxi driver if he thought Bulgarians had grown happier over the last few years (as the World Happiness Index claimed they had done). He declined to agree with this assessment, stating that ‘we’ are a warm and happy nation at heart, something that has stood the test of time.
I consider this warmth of the average Bulgarian and wonder where I fit into this picture. Is it something that has been partially diluted? Is it, like playing an instrument, something I can get a hang of again? Perhaps this is too hypothetical. I need to look at my specific interactions. There is an emotional ease of being here which is unexpectedly welcome, when I talk to my neighbours or even random people on the sidewalk. It might even be someplace I can stay for a while. But it may be too soon to say.
